Wessex Service Links
There are several Links estalished between Hospital and Community Trusts in Wessex and partners abroad. They are:
Further information about additional work being undertaken in South Sudan through collaborative arrangements with other groups working there can be found in the section on UK Links within South Sudan.
Basingstoke Hoima Partnership for Health (Uganda)
The Basingstoke Hoima Partnership for Health was formally set up in 2010. The Hoima Regional Referral Hospital is situated in North Western Uganda. The aim of this link is "to work with the people of Uganda to improve the delivery of healthcare". There is a particular focus on maternal care and care of the newborn.
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Basingstoke - African Smiles
The work of the Mercy Ships first started in 1978 and was designed to use a boat fully equiped for surgican health care to poor parts of the world. In particular the bring treatment for blindness, deformities, obstetric fistulae and dental treatment. African Smiles is principally about promoting the work of Mercy Ships in Africa. Dr Keith Thompson, anaesthetist in Basingstoke, has taken a lead role in this for many years and also organises conferences in different parts of Africa.
The Brickworks - Yei (South Sudan)
The Brickworks in Winchester has supported the establishment of the Martha Clinic, a community clinic in Yei over the past few years. This work is now closely connected with the link that has been established by the Winchester Hospital and the hospital in Yei.
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CRESS-UK - Kajo-Keji (South Sudan)
CRESS-UK is a church based charity working from Chalke Valley to alleviate poverty in Kajo-Keji.
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Dorchester - Rumbeck Hospital Link
This link is just developing and the plan is to establish it during 2013. An early project is to pilot courses on the recognition and care of the acutely ill patient.
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Improving Global Health through Leadership Development (Cambodia and other countries)
The Improving Global Health through Leadership Development programme was introduced for local staff in 2008 by the South Central Strategic Health Authority for local staff. With the re-organisation of the NHS the Wessex Leadership Academy was created and has run the programme since the beginning of April, 2013.
It first developed partnership a with The Maddox-Joile Pitt Foundation in Samlaut Millennium Village, Cambodia, which adopted the principles of the Millennium Villages Project aiming to achieve the millennium Development Goals. Another link was developed with the United Nations Development Programme in Tabora millennium Village cluster, Tanzania. Although the Tanzania connection has now been discontinued, the programme now places people in Zambia and South Africa.
Participants have the opportunity to develop leadership skills through the application of quality improvement methods whilst at the same time contributing in a sustainable way to the health needs of the local area.
The programme meets a number of key aims of the leadership development strategy, these include:
- Cross cultural leadership and international experience
- Multi - agency partnerships and multi - professional development
- The continuing quest for unique and challenging development opportunities for our high potential leaders.
Placements will typically be between 3 - 6 months. During their attachment delegates will provide:
- Training and education support for the Cambodian clinical staff, health workers and managers they are working alongside
- A wide range of clinical skills
- A focus upon sustainable Service Improvement supervised by experts.
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Poole Hospital - Wau (Southern Sudan)
The Poole - Africa Link is a charity link which was set up in 2009 between Poole Hospital and Wau Teaching Hospital, Southern Sudan. The aim is to help by setting up basic teaching and training programmes for nurses and midwives, and post-graduate training for doctors. Staff from Poole Hospital donate their time and expertise to support the project by visiting Wau to carry out training and establish systems to improve ongoing support. The project team is liaising with government officials in Southern Sudan, to encourage them to support some of the hospital's needs for equipment and services.
Update July, 2014
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St Mary's - Juba (Southern Sudan)
The St Mary's and Juba Link was established in October, 2007, and developed a link with Juba Teaching Hospital. It was set up with the following general objective:
"To promote understanding of the needs and to support the Government of Southern Sudan, in order to improve clinical services through the development of education and training."
As a result of the leadership provided, other health partnerships were also established in Wessex. The St Mary's link is no longer active.
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Salisbury South Sudan Medical Link
Every Diocese of the Church of England has a link with another Diocese in the Anglican Communion. The Diocese of Salisbury is unusual in having a link with the Episcopal Church of the whole of Sudan, which spans both Sudans, North and the new country of South Sudan. The link was set up in 1972 and the Salisbury Sudan Medical Link was established in 1983. It provides particular support for staff training across a wide area of the southern part of South Sudan.
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Salisbury (Health Care Sudan) - Kajo-Keji (South Sudan)
Health Care Sudan is a voluntary organisation based in Salisbury, with extensive experience in
- building and equiping clinics
- supporting and training health care staff
- the introduction of sustainable technologies
- ensuring the satisfactory delivery of projects.
Its work is currently focused on Kajo-Keji in Central Equatoria.
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Southampton : THET - Ethiopia NCD Alliance (THENA)
The THET Ethiopia NCD Alliance is a collaboration of charitable, academic, clinical and local government partners that work together to achieve a shared vision of a country where every person afflicted by NCDs is able to access appropriate health care. Partners include institutions in Ethiopia and the UK (the Tropical Health Education Trust, Southampton and Queen's University, Belfast).
Non-Communicable Diseases have been chosen as a focus for work because they have been neglected in the past, but are becoming increasingly prevalent. Rural areas have been chosen as 85% of the population live there.
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Southampton - The G.A.S. Partnership (Ghana)
The G.A.S. Partnership is linkage between a government agency, an NGO and an NHS trust, launched in May 2010. The purpose is to improve healthcare provision in the Upper East Region of Ghana, primarily through strengthening manpower and promoting skill-sharing, to make a lasting and sustainable impact. The partners are
The Partnership has five specialty areas of focus - diagnostics, child health, maternal health, theatres and anaesthetics, and estates planning and facilities management. Each specialty carries out enhanced training for Ghanaian staff in Ghana and the UK , training of trainers, development of specialist courses, continuous professional development programmes for current practitioners, e-learning support, and joint service reviews.
Blog of 4th Year Medical Student on Lifebox Project in Ghana
Southampton Global Health Day 2014 Programme
Report of the Global Health Day, 2014
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Southampton - Mombassa Vision 2020 (Kenya)
Southampton General Hospital was approached in 2011 to see if it could support the development of ophthalmic services in a part of Mombassa. Specialists from Southampton have visited and the plan is to develop a Southampton - Kenya Eye Link as part of the Vision 2020 Global initiative.
Key objectives are to
- prevent avoidable blindness
- improve the quality of services to vision impaired people
- improve the training available to professional providing advice and services
- raise public awareness of the issues and problems relating to sight loss
More information
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Southampton - Nepal (Nick Simons Institute)
Anaesthetists in Southampton have formed a partnership with the Nick Simons Institute, a Nepal-based organisation that works with the Nepal Government and other institutions to support rural health workers.
The role of the Southampton anaesthetists is to support the non-doctor anaesthetist program. These isolated non-doctor anaesthetists provide the majority of anaesthesia provision at district and zonal level across the country, outside of Kathmandu and the private sector.
Southampton has developed
educational packages including refresher courses, video library and a distance learning program. They deliver targeted on-site training and support in partnership with Institute and the Nepal Government National Health Training Centre.
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Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust - Kintampo (Ghana)
The Kintampo Project provides training for Medical Assistants Psychiatry and Community Mental Health Officers, College of Health, Kintampo, Ghana
Ghana has a severe shortage of mental health staff.
- The UK has about 1 psychiatrist per 10,000 people but in Ghana the ratio is only 1 psychiatrist per 5 million.
- The UK has around 1 psychiatric nurse per 1000 people but in Ghana the ratio is only 1 per 50,000.
To address the shortage, The College of Health, Kintampo is now training 2 new cadres - Medical Assistants Psychiatry and Community Mental Health Officers. Medical Assistants work under the supervision of a doctor. They have skills similar to a UK GP (primary care doctor). They oversee sub-district and rural services, providing education, primary prevention plus diagnosing and treating patients (including prescribing). It is hoped that the new high school entrant stream will help to reduce the 'brain-drain'.
The project is now complete. Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust provided support for the development of the curriculum and in delivering the programme. Dr Mark Roberts chamioned and lead the work from the UK and the University of Winchester remains involved in evaluating the work.
A brief summary of the work can be found here.
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Ugandan Sexual Health and Pastoral Education (USHAPE)
USHAPE is an initiative between UK GPs and Bwindi Community Hospital run in conjunction with the Royal College of General Practitioners delivering Family Planning and Sexual Health Training and Education in Uganda. Its work began at Bwindi Community Hospital and is rapidly spreading to other hospitals and districts across Uganda. The work is receiving funding and support from the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) Health Partnership Scheme (funded by UKAID/DfiD).
One of the team involved is Dr Merlin Willcox, Academic Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care at Southampton. Contact Merlin for more information.
More information about USHAPE.
Wessex Ghana Stroke Partnership
The Wessex Ghana Stroke Partnership was established in 2009 and is a collaboration between health professionals in Wessex and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana. More recently it has established a link with Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Gambia.
WGSP strives to improve stroke care at both KBTH and EFSTH, primarily through making knowledge about stroke accessible, sharing and adapting clinical and leadership skills, and working together to strengthen systems.
It supports the development of the services in a way that is culturally relevant and where improvements can be objectively measured, thereby leading to real and sustainable changes in patient care. The ultimate goal is to improve morbidity and mortality through the introduction of organised multidisciplinary stroke care.
More information can be obtained from either Dr Claire Spice in Portsmouth or Louise Johnson, UK Project Administrator, at Bournemouth Hospital.
More information about the partnership
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Winchester - Yei Link (South Sudan)
The Winchester-Yei Link was developed in 2010 initially between the former Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust and Yei Civil Hospital in South Sudan. It has since grown and now includes as partners, the Martha Primary Health Care Centre and the Yei National Health Training Institute. Its aim is to help improve local health and healthcare in Yei and the surrounding area through training programmes delivered by UK staff to front-line health professionals in Yei.
The Link also provides the health centres with small pieces of equipment whenever possible and training materials and medical books.
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